Since the early days of boats and watercraft, people have had a need to relocate their watercraft between bodies of water. Whether it be between closely spaced ponds/lakes or portaging around hazards in a stream/river, dragging a canoe, kayak, boat or other watercraft (collectively “craft”) across dry land can be difficult, dangerous and damaging. Early peoples often placed logs under their craft and slowly pushed the craft forward, shifting a newly appearing log from the rear to a newly created open space under the front of the craft as they moved forward. With the advancement of the wheel, carts or wagons began to be used; but such conveyances were often large and heavy and rarely could be carried in the craft between uses. Small craft such as canoes were usually just dragged or carried, but many a craft suffered holes, dents, and other damage as it bounced over, or was dragged across, logs, rocks, etc.
In more recent times, small portable carts have begun to appear. However, many of them are still too heavy/bulky to carry in the craft between uses; instead, they are mainly used to launch a craft from a land vehicle or associated trailer and then are stowed back in the land vehicle while the craft is used on a single body of water. Leaving the user with the options of carrying or dragging their craft whenever a portage is necessary during the trip.
There are a few carts which are portable enough to carry within a craft and can be used when a portage situation is encountered during a trip. These carts still retain a number of problems including being heavy and cumbersome as well as flimsy and easily broken. Furthermore, they do not fully support and protect the craft they are carrying, leaving the craft vulnerable to damage, especially when used by a single individual who is portaging his or her craft by themselves. Another common failing among portable carts is that they are designed for smooth terrain such as trails and roads and quickly fail when used in areas with boulders, logs, rocks, brush and other serious travel impediments. Many such carts have exposed axels, wheel spokes, and other parts which are easily snagged in difficult terrain. Further, they are not custom fit to the particular craft on which they are used so they do not fit the craft snugly and provide opportunities for brush and other impediments to get caught (e.g., in the gaps between the cart and the craft). A number of carts provide no spring or give between the wheels and the portion of the cart that holds the craft. Thus, any impact to a wheel (such as falling off a rock into a hole and jarring when it hits bottom) is directly transferred to the craft itself, again risking damage to the craft. In order to make existing carts as light as possible, some manufacturers have relied upon flimsy materials and/or poor designs which collapse when carrying heavily laden craft across difficult terrain. Such failures can be life threatening when they occur far from help and strand the unfortunate user with either a damaged craft or one that is too heavy to portage without the assistance of a cart.
A number of cart designs attach to the middle of a craft. The user then pushes or pulls the craft from one end. However, such designs leave the other end of the craft completely exposed to the dangers of difficult terrain where jagged rocks, sharp stumps, and other impediments can easily damage the craft and end the fun adventure. Even those few carts which attach at an end of the craft do not protect the bow or stern keel.
Another common failing of known carts is that they do not securely attach to a craft; thus risking detachment during difficult portages resulting in damage to craft and/or cart. Carts that do not provide any cushion between the craft and the contact points of the cart can cause rubbing, wear, and other damage to the craft as well as again directly transferring to the craft any impacts or shocks to which the cart is exposed.
What is needed is a compact, portable cart that provides easy, one-person transport of multiple types and styles of craft across rough terrain; simply and securely attaches to a craft; provides shock and cushion to protect the craft from rough terrain, protects the keel and its transition up the stern and/or bow; and allows easy, one-person transport of the craft across rough terrain.